Commemorative Planting

Guidelines and helpful information – Greensprings Natural Cemetery Preserve – Fall 2022

Planting at your loved one’s site can be a comforing way to connect to nature and honor their memory. Your efforts also contribute to the overall health of our nature preserve, restoring biodiversity and supporting bee, birds and butterflies.

Plant Only Approved Plants

The plants on the Ecological Advisory Committee Approve Plant List have been selected because they are native species, provide excellent and diverse wildlife food and habitat, and because they can survive the mowing process.

Plant Only on the Burial Mound

To protect young plantings from our mowers, plant only on the burial mound. You can further protect plants by placing orange landscape poles, (which you can find next to the rain barrel at the cottage) at the four corners of the mound.

Avoid large rock borders

Large rocks can break our mower blades. Mowing is an important part of managing our 130 acre nature preserve. We mow the burial areas and 1/3 of our total acreage between late September and late October. If you find large rocks on your loved one’s site, polease tuck them back into the earth or move them to our rock pile southwest of the cottage. it’s fine to leave thin flat rocks.